Ranchi

Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Hemant Soren on Monday skipped the INDIA bloc meeting. Rajya Sabha MP Sarfaraz Ahmad attended on behalf of the party.

Ahead of the meeting, when asked about his presence, Soren told reporters, "Possibly. I am trying. Let's see."

Hemant Soren is overseeing the biennial Rajya Sabha elections for JMM and Congress, and June 8 is the last date for the nomination.

JMM has announced MLA Baidyanath Ram, while Congress is set to field party secretary Pranav Jha for the Upper House polls on two seats in Jharkhand. Initially, the JMM wanted to field its candidates in both seats; however, the party leadership decided to leave one for its ally, Congress.

JMM MP Mahua Maji expressed confidence of victory in the Rajya Sabha elections, scheduled for June 18.

The biennial Rajya Sabha elections will be held for four seats each in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three seats each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, two seats in Jharkhand, and one seat each in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya. The last date for filing of nominations is June 8.

Notification was also issued for the Rajya Sabha bypoll for a seat each in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.

During the INDIA bloc meeting, the alliance chairperson and Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, flagged economic, social, and foreign policy challenges faced by the nation and criticised the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across the country at the alliance meeting at the Constitution Club.

In his opening remarks, Kharge hailed the alliance's unity in defeating the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-first Amendment) Bill, the Delimitation Bill, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill in the Parliament.

Expressing concern over a range of issues, the Congress leader highlighted inflation, irregularities in examinations, and alleged a "compromised" foreign policy to target the BJP government at the Centre.

Leaders of 23 parties were present in the meeting, including LoP Rahul Gandhi, Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal, former West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee with Abhishek Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, and Bihar LoP Tejasvi Yadav also attended the meeting.

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Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is not attending the meeting as Congress ended its long-standing partnership with the party and joined hands with the Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Tamil Nadu.